Woman Wins $25 Million After Store Clerk Mistake

A store clerk’s mistake led to a $25 million lottery win for an unemployed Georgia woman. Kathy Scruggs, 44, asked for the sale of a Mega Millions ticket, but when she was handed a Powerball drawing along with the first ticket, she accepted them both.

She discovered her good fortune the night after the drawing and woke up the entire house.

“We were screaming and hollering, and everybody came running,” she said. “I could not believe it.”

Scruggs had been unemployed and trying to find a job for many months.

“I’ve been looking and looking and looking,” she said.

She will finally own a car, she says, and plans to help her family and others.

“I’m going to build my mom and grandmother a home,” she said. “That’s my first focus.”

She also wants to start foundations to help the homeless and to provide dental assistance to those in need.

Scruggs selected the cash option and will receive $15,124,017 before taxes.

As with all other Georgia Lottery games, proceeds from Powerball will benefit education in the state of Georgia. Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned more than $12.7 billion to the state of Georgia for education.